St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-18

= daily in the favorite
shopping streets of st. Paul, for the
merchants are makiny an effort to close
out their summer goods to make way for
the fresh impOrtations for the fall trade.
Any bright day now clusters of women
may be seen hanging around the
show windows of these estab-
lishments, chattering in admira-
ton over the choice fabrics
attractively. Many of them are down
town with the intention of purchasing,
others come down to see what new
things the trade has to offer for their
wardrobes and when they find out just
what they want, they go home and the
indulgent husband is met with gentle
demand, accompanied by some unusual
show of affection that generally brings
a ready compliance from him, and the
next day his money goes into the pleth-
aric Golfers of the dry goods dealer and
his wife is happy for another week in
the possession of some coveted piece of
dress goods or other dainty fabric that
go so far towards making woman at
tractive and thing to be admired.
For several years the custom of win
vogue in the large cities of theEast, and
this
METROPOLITAN IDEA
is becoming the thing in ST. Paul. But
a short time ago very little attention
was paid to window dressing in this
city; if the merchant had unusual bar
gains on hand he would toss sample of
the goods careleSsly into the window
with placard hung to it announcing in
an informal way the reduction that had
been made. Now it is different Every
dry goods merchant especially is anX-
ious to get all the space possible front
iny o., the busy thoroughfares to be
utilized in displaying his goods, and in
these windows are glazed the best ma
terial the store holds, in a;c artistic way,
to attract the eye and the patronage OF
the ladies.
With this custom of window dressing
in the Northwest has come the profess
sional window trimmer, who is an in
dispensable adjunct to every large'and
well regulated dry goods establishment
i'll this city. The window trimmer is a
man of more ability than generally.
marks the salesman who spends his
days in mechanically measuring off the
yards of material that the purchaser
chooses and in dilating in a studied way
upon the great bargains that are offered
on certain goods for few weeks only.
The window trimmer must be an artist,
a hard thinker and hard worker.
He is not expected to stand
behind the counter and sell goods;
his time is wholly employed in racking
his brain for some new design. some
new combination Of colors that will set
the tongues of women in motion and
bring customers to the counters of his
employer. He cannot sit down, draw a
design and dictate to another how the
work shall be done, but he must person.
ally select the goods, and, getting into
the window, place them in the position
that will attract the most attention. In
many respects he is
VERITABLE NIGHTHAWK.
for the greater part of his work is done
when the other employees have left their
stations and are in the arms of Morphe-
us. When the key is turned in the
lock of the door and the streets of the
city are dimly seen under the simmer
ing glare. of the street lamps, the
windOw-trimmer has to pull his
ideas together, draw the shades of
the show windows, and behind them pa
tiently study the effect of the multitude
OF cOlOrS that he is expected to weave
into an original and attractive design.
to be presented to the eyes of the public
the next morning when the sun has
come up from his Eastern couch, and
the world is again astir and full of life
for another day. This character of
work is eXhausting, and the lot of the
window trimmer is not a happy one, but
he is usually well paid for his genius
and taste, and besides he can enjoy the
satisfaction Of standing in the doorway
the next day and listening to the eX-
preSSiOns of admiration and the pretty
little tid-bitS of praise that fall from the
lips of fashions charming devotees. 1t
is not an unusual thing for
window trimmer whose Imagination
is full of fresh ideas and whose eyes are
especially quick to discover harmony in
colorS, to draw an annual stipend of
5000, and the dry goods dealers say he
is worth that much money to them. w.
X. Martin, inside decorator and window
trimmer for GuStave Heinemann. came
from the great dry goods firm of Jordan,
Marsh d Co., Boston, where he served
nine years, and many of his designs are
unique and really wonderful. A short
time ago he built pipe organ of bolts
of print and SpoOlS of thread that was
study from the treadle to the top of the
talleSt pipe. A cluster of fans formed
of summer dress goods in various colors,
that were piled in magnificent array
from the bottom of the window to the
top, was also very attractive picture.
Brothers, ranks with the finest window
trimmerS in the United States While
his designs are not wonderful for their
originality, his groupings and combina-
lions of colorS are rich and
VERY ATTRACTIVE.
A little more than year ago, on the
death of Gen. Grant, the window draped
in mourning, with portrait of the dead
statesman and a broken column as the
central figures, formed a picture that
was touching in its elegant simplicity
and appropriateness. AS often as once
a week, and during the busy season
many times twice week, the window
| trimmer is obliged to rearrange his win
dows and present In them something
new. With this requirement haunting
one, year in and year out. life cannot
be said to be veritable bed of roses.
The cost of window trimming to the
proprietor of dry goods establishment
is great. The exposure of the goods to
the light and, in
MANY INSTANCES,
to the glare of the sun, damages the
material and it has, In many cases, to
be sold at figure far below cost. 1t
will not do to place cheap material in
the windows as drawing card. The
richest goods are required for this dis
play, and one can well imagine how
great the cost must be. In cOnversing
with the dry goods dealers of st. Paul
they all say that it does no good to adj
vertise damaged material at a reduced
price. The people are peculiarly differ
ent here from those in Eastern cities.
They don't study SO closely the cost of
an article, but if they take fancy to a
certain piece of goods they buy it re-
| CARELESS of cost, so long as it is first
mer are not confined to the dressing of
windows, but he has to decorate the in